This week we are continuing our discussion on operating in the gift of the discerning of Spirits (1 Cor. 12:10). Last week I suggested we all pray from Psalm 51, asking God to cleanse our souls from things that would contaminate this gift from operating in truth. As I shared last week, this gift operates primarily through your senses, so you must make sure heart is guarded, free from offense, and your motives are pure, because every issue of life springs forth from your heart.(Proverbs 4:23)
All gifts sit in your spirit and channel through your soul. So if your soul is not healed, you will hurt people. The delivery of what you perceive will be disconnected from the character of God, resulting in misconceptions and wrong actions.
As I prayed Psalm 51, even today, asking Holy Spirit to search my heart, verse 17 stood out to me.
"Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice." Message Translation
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." NIV
Keeping our hearts broken before the Lord is vital to the purity and power of this gift. Like I said last week, this gift operates by truth and love, and we must continually be offering ourselves on the altar of sacrifice with the Lord so we see, hear, smell, touch, taste and discern correctly. This gift is listed among other power gifts in this passage of scripture and should be viewed in my estimation as a powerful gift.
TEACHING ON PURITY AND SIGHT THIS WEEK
As a prophet, purity is important to me-purity and righteousness- so allow me a moment to teach on that.
We don't please God when we jump to negative conclusions, especially if there are unhealed places in us. To know God's nature is to be patient, kind and long-suffering. God doesn't want us rushing into anything, especially a negative judgment towards someone when we are practicing our sense of sight. We must slow down and pray through what we see, as we practice seeing WITH God. We need the counsel of Holy Spirit and others as we practice our sense of sight in the spirit. Our covenant with God and others require the protocol of accountability. So you must seek to understand what you see with the counsel of others-not alone- especially as you are beginning in the gift. Independent operations and judgments are unsanctioned by God and result in prideful, arrogant and unlawful conclusions and responses. Unlawful actions give Satan access to harass people and he is always looking for anyway he can harass people legally in the spirit. The Kingdom of God has laws, protocols and order, and we must operate within those guidelines in order to stay protected. We must take what we see to God and allow him to show us true or false perceptions, so we rightfully deal with it in prayer. It doesn't matter how long it takes, wait on the Lord. Being trained in this spirit doesn't allow for quick decisions either, all of us can miss it and hurt people when we rush into any judgement. Pride got Satan kicked out of heaven and he will try to enter your senses pridefully as well, so you must be on alert.
You don't have to be perfect to operate in this gift but the more you know God, the more purity he requires from you-not perfection.
As we discuss the sense of sight this week, I want to share a few excerpts from the book-Seeing the Supernatural by- Jennfer Eivaz.
"Discerning through sight involves our inner eyes, also known as the eyes of our heart, as well as our 2 physical eyes. The apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18, that their spiritual eyes would be opened to the Holy Spirit, resulting in knowledge and understanding. This is a prayer we can all pray for ourselves-that our eyes would be opened and that we too would know what is happening in the spiritual realm and would respond accordingly."
We will not just see negative realities but heavenly ones as well. Have you ever noticed things in nature and wondered if God was speaking to you? Maybe certain animals stand out to you, or insects, or maybe a rainbow after a storm? God opens our eyes to distinguish the spiritual realm, both good and bad, by causing us to see it in nature. For example, God will many times use dragonflies to speak to me about change that is present or coming. So if I'm praying for myself or someone else, God may bring dragonflies to me over and over again letting me know that change is coming, and I can then share it with them or pray for them-however God chooses to speak.
Demonic spirits can many times be discerned by seeing misty shadows, dark shapes or actual demons. Demons may appear as one thing and then change suddenly. These are called shape shifters-and they can appear in your dreams and in the daytime. Surrendering your senses to God before going to sleep and sealing up your night season with the blood of Jesus helps keep hell out of your dreams and night season. Do this with children especially, because hell likes to invade their dreams with nightmares.
When we surrender our senses to Holy Spirit , he will flood us with light and give us clear vision in the day and in the night.
Sometimes Holy Spirit will send you a picture in your mind's eye (imagination). Ask Him questions, lots of them, whenever you see something. These sightings are meant to draw you into a dialogue with Him, and he will then teach you how to respond.
Discerning & Seeing Angels:
God has angels on deployment all the time on our behalf; and knowing they are present to aid us, boosts our faith and reminds us of God's love for us and His intervening power in our lives.
"O Lord open his eyes that he may see"- was the prayer Elisha prayed concerning his servants eyes in 2 Kings 6:17. But it was his spiritual eyes that needed sight, not his physical ones. His natural eyes couldn't see the hundreds of angels that were there, fighting with them, and he needed his spiritual eyes to be opened to see how God was protecting them.
Holy Spirit wants to help you know what is going on around you on a daily basis, especially in times of crisis, as He is always surrounding us. This gift will help you do just that, as it distinguishes between divine, demonic and human spirits. It also protects you in that it gives you the divine ability to discern the hidden motives in someone's heart. However in order to properly administer the findings, this gift requires routine heart checks, soul cleansing and accountability, while you mature in your walk with God and others.
ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK
Ask God to awaken your sense of sight in the night season, either in dreams or visions.
Practice seeing with God in your mind's eye and imagination by looking beyond the natural while in prayer
Take a walk in nature and ask God to awaken you sense of sight as you see His creation in action
MY BLESSING PRAYER TO YOU TODAY:
Father- I bless all those reading this devotional blog today with greater sight into the unseen realms. I pray they have keen discernment and clear vision as you enable them to see past this dimension. I bless the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened, so they would know the hope to which they've been called to and the glorious riches they possess as kingdom heirs with Christ Jesus. I bless them in their pursuit of greater equipping as their sense of sight is quickened, awakened, trained and practiced in Jesus name-amen.
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